Henryk was very young in 1945, when the World War II ended and solitary survivors tried frantically to trace their relatives. He had spent what seemed to be most of his life with his nanny, who had hidden him away from the Nazis at his father's request. There was great personal risk involved, but the woman had readily taken it, as she loved the boy.
All the Jews were being killed, and Henryk's nanny did not think for a moment that the father, Joseph Foxman, would survive the infamous destruction of the Vilna Ghetto. He would surely have been transferred to Auschwitz — and everyone knew that nobody ever came back from Auschwitz. She therefore had no scruples about adopting the boy, having him baptized into the Catholic Church and taught catechism by the local priest.
The nanny saved his life—but also taught him to spit on the ground when a Jew walked by.
After the war ended It was Simchat Torah when his father came to take him. The heartbroken nanny had packed all his clothing and his small catechism book, stressing to the father that the boy had become a good Catholic. Joseph Foxman took his son by the hand and led him directly to the Great Synagogue of Vilna. On the way, he told his son that he was a Jew and that his name was Avraham.
Not far from the house, they passed the church and the boy reverently crossed himself, causing his father great anguish. Just then, a priest emerged who knew the boy, and when Henryk rushed over to kiss his hand, the priest spoke to him, reminding him of his Catholic faith.
Everything inside of Joseph wanted to drag his son away from the priest and from the church. But he knew that this was not the way to do things. He nodded to the priest, holding his son more closely. After all, these people had harbored his child and saved the child's life. He had to show his son Judaism, living Judaism.
They entered the Great Synagogue of Vilna, now a remnant of a past, vibrant Jewish era. There they found some Jewish survivors from Auschwitz who had made their way back to Vilna and were now rebuilding their lives and their Jewish spirits. Amid the stark reality of their suffering and terrible loss, in much diminished numbers, they were singing and dancing with real joy while celebrating Simchat Torah.
Only 3,000 of Vilna's 100,000 Jews remained.
Avraham stared wide-eyed around him and picked up a tattered prayer book with a touch of affection. Something deep inside of him responded to the atmosphere, and he was happy to be there with the father he barely knew. He held back, though, from joining the dancing.
A Jewish man wearing a Soviet Army uniform could not take his eyes off the boy, and he came over to Joseph. "Is this child... Jewish?" he asked, a touch of awe in his voice.
The father answered that the boy was Jewish and introduced his son. As the soldier stared at Henryk-Avraham, he fought to hold back tears. "Over these four terrible years, I have traveled thousands of miles, and this is the first live Jewish child I have come across in all this time. I did not see a single Jewish child. They were all murdered. This is the first live Jewish child I have come across in all these years... Would you like to dance with me on my shoulders?" he asked the boy, who was staring back at him, fascinated.
The father nodded permission, and the soldier hoisted the boy high onto his shoulders. With tears now coursing down his cheeks and a heart full of real joy, the soldier joined in the dancing.
"This is my Torah scroll," he cried, as he danced with the five year old Jewish boy.
The Abraham in our story you all heard of: His name is Abe Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
But this is not the end of the story.
For 65 years, the boy and the soldier carried that moment in their heads and hearts. Unknown to each other, they told the story to family and friends.
But then something happened. The Jewish composer Abie Rotenberg put together a song, "The Man From Vilna," about the incident with a Michigan rabbi dancing with a Jewish boy. Foxman heard the song and he learned that the Jewish Soviet soldier was a man named Goldman, still alive and living in the United States.
Two years ago, they met and embraced for the first time since 1945. As it turns out, the Soviet soldier is 93 year old Rabbi Leo Goldman from Oak Park, Detroit, an Orthodox rabbi and an educator
The two men hugged and talked and recited the blessing of “Shecheyanu vekeymanu veheganu lizman hazeh.”
It is a surreal scene every year on Simchat Torah. Yaakov takes his tallit and covers around 100 infants, newly born babies, in Hadasa hospital in Jerusalem.
On Simchat Torah that we will celebrate this Thursday night SEP 26 and Friday SEP. 27 it is customary that even children receive an aliya to the Torah. In synagogues the world over, all the children are gathered together under a tallit and, together with the adult who received this honor, recite the traditional Torah blessings. Yaakov has a tallit 30 feet long, with which he covers all of the infants. “I am doing it for more than 20 years,” “ never did any child cry while under the tallit.”
Before the aliya, he gives his annual victory speech which lasts for 20 seconds: “70 years ago, they murdered one and a half million infants and children. Today, 100 of our children, together with hundreds of thousands of children the world over, are being called up to the Torah. This is our victory.”
But why? Why do we call up our children to the Torah on Simchas Torah, something we do not do all year around?
Mark Twain, famously wrote: "The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, and then passed away. The Greek and the Roman followed. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"
The secret of Judaism lay in the fact that it addresses the transcendent needs, yearnings and passions of the human being, truths that transcend time and space, needs that are timeless, aspirations that are eternal.
Shabbat refreshed souls and sanctified homes 3,000 years ago, and it still does so today; tefilin synchronized minds and hearts to our mission in life 2000 years ago and it still does so today; mikvah gave intimacy its holiness and freshness 1000 years ago, it still does so today; Torah study gave moral vision and spiritual inspiration 500 years ago, it still does so today.
If Moses and Aaron walk in today to Great Neck, they will recognize almost nothing. If they enter our shul today, they will be familiar with so much: the same mezuzah, the same tefillin, the same talit, the same Torah scroll, the same Sukkah, the same shofar, the same lulav and etrog; 3,326 years, and the same Torah that Moses taught his children, we are teaching our children.
That is why we call up all of our children to the Torah on Simchas Torah—because this is what captures the reason for our never ending celebration of the Torah: In a world that changes by the hour, we celebrate the “Torah” which never grows old. It is our children that demonstrate to us the eternal value of Torah.
Friends, we are not in Vilna in 1945. We are, thank G-d, living in freedom. Abe Foxman’s life was changed because of that single dance. We ought not to deprive our children of that dance.
Let us bring our children, grandchildren and friends for our Simchat Torah celebration. And let us dance away with them. Lift up your children—or your friend’s children—or your grandchildren on your shoulders and dance with them. Dance and dance. Let us dance with millions of Jews who will all dance with us on this Simchat Torah celebrating the Divine gift of Torah which becomes more fresh, more relevant, and more exciting each year.
Let us dance away and commit ourselves this coming year to embrace the Torah in our lives, by increasing in our study of Torah. Join a Torah class. Study Torah on your own. But don’t let the ultimate G-d wisdom slip through your fingers.
Chag Sameach Happy Simchat Torah,
Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky
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